


The (Former) Amica

by Quiet_Shadow



Series: Summer Days Prompts [26]
Category: Transformers Animated (2007)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Prison, Breeding Program, Confusion, Gen, Love/Hate, M/M, Past Abuse, Past Sexual Abuse, Power Imbalance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-26
Updated: 2018-07-26
Packaged: 2019-06-16 17:41:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,400
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15442410
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Quiet_Shadow/pseuds/Quiet_Shadow
Summary: Prison AU.Sentinel should have had the Amica Endura process cancelled stellar cycles ago; if he had, perhaps he wouldn't have been saddled with Optimus...





	The (Former) Amica

Sentinel’s apartment was spotless and in perfect order, something the Prime had always taken much pride in. A pristine place was the best way to show up your sense of order – and living in an ordered place taught you a lot about responsibility and efficiency.

As such, Sentinel disliked anything that could put his place in disarray. Such as the mech currently sitting on his couch, for example.

The temptation to say ‘to the Pit with that’ and chase Optimus out was strong, he couldn’t deny it. However, he had his orders, as unfortunate as they were – and Sentinel NEVER disobeyed orders. The one time he hadn’t, the one time he had thought himself cleverer than the rules… he had lost Elita One. And that was all Optimus’ fault too – he had been the one who had forced Sentinel to leave her behind!

Oh, how he despised him, even today!

… Perhaps not as much as before, he grudgingly admitted to himself.

Sentinel’s loathing had decreased over time, knowing that Optimus was paying in full for Elita’s death as he himself went on to have a very successful career in the Elite Guard had helped soothe his feelings on the matter. That, and… perhaps the harshness of the judgment had made Sentinel internally cringe, if only because he had narrowly dodged the same fate. 5.000 stellar cycles in the Stockades for the loss of life of a promising Cadet and the reckless endangering of another Cadet’s life and his own was hard to considerate. If Optimus hadn’t taken it all on himself…

But Sentinel would eat his own glossa before he said Optimus ‘thank you’!

“… you kept them,” Optimus murmured as he put the cup he had been holding back on the table – on the saucer, Sentinel was pleased to see; a stain on the table would have driven him barmy. Then he flushed and looked away. Of course Optimus would have noticed the pattern on the cups, damn him!

“Well, of course I did; it’s a good set, what was I supposed to do with it? Crush it under my feet? Throw it in the thrash?” It was a gift from Elita… and Optimus’ both. Elita had been the one insisting he needed china, even if the idea was a bit ridiculous – Sentinel had always preferred sturdy containers he wouldn’t accidentally break or crush while manipulating them. He had to admit she hadn’t been wrong – the set always impressed guests, if only because it was a show of refinery few expected from Sentinel.

No, he wouldn’t have thrown Elita’s gift out… even if Optimus had been the one to choose the pattern.

Optimus ducked his head. “Of course not. I’m sorry to have asked.” He looked away from Sentinel and back to the holographic portrait of Elita One Sentinel had put on display on the wall before looking away again.

Sentinel didn’t know what to feel about it; anger that Optimus wouldn’t even look at her anymore? Elation he couldn’t, that he fully acknowledged his part in her demise? Frag, that was as confusing as it was tiring, the blue mech thought desperately. It made him wish he had picked another option, that he had said ‘no’ to taking Optimus in his home instead of some other compatible partner – the matchmaking process had found four others that could have made the cut!

But when Ultra Magnus had dropped by his office to tell him that Sentinel’s Amica Endura was a highly compatible match and asked him if Sentinel was ready to mate with him to produce Sparklings, Sentinel had just stuttered an agreement, too stunned to do anything else.

That what was happened when you avoided thinking about your former friend so much you forgot to fill the paperwork to rescind the Amica Endura process Sentinel and Optimus had gone through during their Academy cycles. A simple formality, something they had chosen to do because neither of them had much family to speak on and it could give them a proxy in case something happened to one of them. Elita had even joked about it and asked them which one would fill a Conjunx Endura files with her.

_(Neither had, but that wasn’t for lack of thinking about it.)_

But... Sentinel and Optimus were also both listed as Elita's Amicae; if he cancelled the process with Optimus, then he was cancelling it with Elita as well. And that, the blue mech couldn't handle. So even if he had remembered, he probably wouldn't have gone through the process.

“Did you know I was Ultra Magnus’ Second now?” Sentinel boasted aloud to fill the silence. Optimus’ quietness was unnerving. Sure, the mech had never been much of a talker, but that was usually because he was too busy reading. The quiet, the hunched shoulders, the downcast optics,… it didn’t feel right, even if Sentinel was kinda grateful for them too.

It showed Optimus hadn’t gone easy during his jail stunt, that he had paid for Elita’s death as Sentinel had hoped he would.

_(He had paid far more than that, but Sentinel had no way of knowing.)_

“Yes,” Optimus murmured, not looking up. “I’ve heard about it. It’s really impressing. You are… so young. I… congratulation, Sentinel. It mustn’t have been easy.”

Sentinel preened. Quieter than he remembered or not, Optimus at least could recognize talent where it laid. “Ah! It was easy for me,” he boasted (okay, it wasn’t, but Optimus had no business knowing about that). “I have Ultra Magnus’ full trust, you know. And if anything happen to his old cogs, I’m the next in line to get the title of Magnus.” Oh, he was savoring the idea of the crowd calling out his name: Sentinel Magnus.

Sure, it wasn’t for today; old or not, Ultra Magnus was a sturdy mechanism. But it would happen sooner or later and when it did, he would need to be irreproachable in the optics of the adoring public.

… Being mated to an ex-convict risked to tarnish his reputation, though. Sure, countless mechs and femmes were in the same bag as him, but Sentinel was a very public figure. He couldn’t afford a misstep here! Spinning the tale of how he had ‘forgiven’ his Amica Endura for his wrong-doings might help here… But he also needed to make sure Optimus wouldn’t diminish his prestige.

Time to lay some ground rules.

He coughed loudly to get Optimus’ attention. “As my mate and future Carrier of my Sparklings, you understand that I have high expectations for you, right?” If he saw Optimus cringe, he didn’t point it out. “I don’t want you to be in the public optic – and with your files marked with the mention ‘ex-convict’, you won’t find an honest mech to give you work.”

“… you expect me to stay at home, then?” Optimus asked softly. He still wasn’t looking at Sentinel.

Sentinel huffed. “Of course! And no getting out without me,” he warned. Who knew what Optimus could get up to without supervision!

“Of course,” Optimus nodded. “What do you expect me to do with my solar cycles?”

That made Sentinel stall. What indeed? “… You’ll clean up the place,” he eventually says, feeling more confident. That’d be a chore less for him to do. “Sweeping, dusting, washing, vacuum cleaning,… the whole jig. I intend for my apartment to stay as pristine as it is now, if not more. I’m sure you’ll be the mech for the job. They put you on maintenance duty in that prison of yours, right?” he added with a sneer.

Optimus just nodded weakly. “Yeah, they did. Is there… anything else you wish me to do?”

Sentinel shrugged. No, there really wasn’t. The only other thing he’d need Optimus for was for… making Sparklings. Uh. Now he was the one making a face. Sentinel was a good Autobot. He always did his duty, and he put duty before anything else. But to lay in the same berth as Optimus and…

… Frag. The berth. He didn’t have a two-person berth yet. He facepalmed. How the Pit could he have forgotten about it? Sure, he could make Optimus recharge on the couch, but that couldn’t last long – and if anyone came to visit and saw the unusual sleeping arrangement, it’d land Sentinel in hot water.

“Actually, yes. Come with me, I think we need to do some emergency shopping…”


End file.
